Structural modifications induced by electron irradiation in SiO2 glass: Local densification measurements

G. Buscarino; S. Agnello; F. M. Gelardi

doi:10.1209/0295-5075/87/26007

All issues

Volume 87 / No 2 (July 2009)

EPL, 87 2 (2009) 26007

Abstract

Issue		EPL Volume 87, Number 2, July 2009


Article Number		26007
Number of page(s)		4
Section		Condensed Matter: Structural, Mechanical and Thermal Properties
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/87/26007
Published online		18 August 2009

EPL, 87 (2009) 26007

Structural modifications induced by electron irradiation in SiO₂ glass: Local densification measurements

G. Buscarino, S. Agnello and F. M. Gelardi

Department of Physical and Astronomical Sciences, University of Palermo - Via Archirafi 36, I-90123 Palermo, Italy, EU

Corresponding author: buscarin@fisica.unipa.it

Received: 16 June 2009
Accepted: 15 July 2009

Abstract

We report a study on the structural modifications induced in amorphous silicon dioxide (a-SiO₂) by electron irradiation in the dose range from 1.2 $\cdot$ 10³ to 5 $\cdot$ 10⁶ kGy. This study has been performed by investigating the properties of the ²⁹Si hyperfine structure of the $E ^\prime _{\gamma}$ center by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Our data suggest that the structural modifications induced by irradiation take place through the nucleation of confined high-defective and densified regions statistically dispersed into the whole volume of the material. In addition, we have estimated that in the high dose limit (D $\geqslant$ 10⁵ kGy) the degree of densification associated to the local (within the defective regions) polyamorphic transition follows a characteristic power law dependence on the dose given by $bD^{\nu}$ , where b = (2.0±0.3) $\cdot$ 10^-3, ν = 0.160±0.004 and D is the irradiation dose measured in kGy.

PACS: 61.80.Fe – Electron and positron radiation effects / 61.43.Fs – Glasses / 61.72.J- – Point defects and defect clusters

© EPLA, 2009

Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.

Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.

Initial download of the metrics may take a while.